


the sky in your eyes

by sannlykke



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, KagaKuro Day 2016, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:36:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8259763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sannlykke/pseuds/sannlykke
Summary: I’ll save you if you ever fall overboard, he remembers his reply being, once, twice, many times over after that. Thin fingers caress his face, lifting him towards the surface. Heaven, he thinks, perhaps...
Kuroko gets captured by the navy, and it's up to the Seirin crew to track him down.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this was actually [posted](http://sann-lykke.tumblr.com/post/150021366284/helloooo-may-i-kagakuro-pirates-pinning-thank) on tumblr a month ago for a prompt meme [szczepter](http://szczepter.tumblr.com/) sent; i'm just putting it up here now since i have...done nothing new for kgkr day...orz. sorry bout that, but for those who haven't read it before or want to read again i hope yall enjoy!! happy 10/11!

The waves lapped at the side of the boat, singing the songs of evening, as Kagami lowered himself from the mast. Most of the crew were inside preparing for the night, and his stomach was tumbling—from the motions of the sea, mostly, but also hunger.

Something else, too. Hyuuga, emerging out of the cabin, was first to catch him coming down. “Oi! Mitobe and Koga are calling for you.”

“Yeah?” Careful not to disturb the ropes, Kagami steps through the mess on deck. It had taken them quite a while to recover from the surprise cleanup the navy had imposed on this side of the coast, and it is clear from Hyuuga’s twitching face the crew are still none too happy from how things had gone down.

Something else turns over in his stomach as he looks towards the horizon, at the black speck barely visible there. Kagami bites his lips, feeling a ripple of anger inside.

“You’ve fixed the sails, huh,” Hyuuga is saying, patting the dark wood of the mast. Then he slaps Kagami’s back. “Don’t think about it too much now, you hear? We’ll get him back tonight, but we’ll need all the the luck we can get.”

“Tonight,” Kagami agrees. The blue of the sky is quick fading, and he only wishes it would not be long until he sees it again.

* * *

 

Kuroko hears strong waves slapping at the ship, the whole vessel groaning and creaking as he coughs. The chains around his wrists and ankles move as sluggishly as he does, down here in the gloom.

 _That was foolish of me_ , he thinks to himself with a sigh. He’d never been caught before, until now.

The rest of his crew were probably still scattered around the nearby islands, though it had been weeks since anyone mentioned the Seirin crew on this ship, and none of what he’d heard had bode well. Perhaps the captain had banned all talk within his earshot lest ideas of escape sprout in his head. No matter who he had been once, Kuroko would be just another pirate brought to justice in the eyes of the magistrate once they get on land.

They’d stripped him down before they locked him up in this airless, stifling cargo hold. Kuroko had held his tongue during the whole ordeal; it is worse if you struggle, that much he has learned for himself. But even more than that, there is one thing he’s kept from the navy’s prying eyes.

The tiny ruby gleams in the darkness, giving him some solace despite what sounds like growing bad weather outside and the constant churning in his stomach. It had been the first gift anyone had given him in a long time, during their first raid on a merchant galley on a day not unlike this one.

Kuroko only hopes that somewhere, out there, that person is taking refuge from the coming storm.

* * *

He’d dozed off sometime after the kitchen help had brought him slops for supper, only  waking again from the incessant howling of the wind outside. Kuroko groans, rolling over as barrels shift and creak with the rolling of the ship. Perhaps they would all die out here before hitting hand, he thinks dimly, as several glasses fall and shatter opposite him.

The ship lurches suddenly, and he too shoots forward, the already-rusting chains holding him finally snapping entirely. But the victory is short-lived; Kuroko hears and then _sees_ the clink of something sparkling rolling under the pile of boards.

“—!”

He scrambles for the jewel, wincing as the waves battering outside shook the ship again, this time sending its contents shifting left. As Kuroko’s fingers close on to its target again, he hears heavy thuds above, and the the door slams open.

“Oi! Where’s that blasted prisoner?”

“Look!”

They do not notice him, hidden behind the crates, his feet stinging from the shards of glass he’d stepped on earlier. Kuroko bites down on his tongue again as they pass him, inspecting the breakage of the chains. He had always been a forgettable person, though…

“Hey, get up from there! We need all the help—“

Their garbled voices fade into the rabble above as the men hurry up the stairs, too focused on whatever is going on to search for him anymore. Not surprising, given how he would probably not be worth much. He wouldn’t be able to get far on a ship teeming with military men, anyway.

Kuroko closes his eyes and yanks the pieces of glass out of his feet, gasping at the sudden pain. There’s a smell of rust lingering in the air as he hobbles towards the stairs, listening to the commotion above.

“—he, down below maybe—“

“—not getting past—“

“—the mast! It’s—“

A low screech turns into a great crash as something above crashes in, and the ship heaves violently, throwing him upwards. Kuroko hangs on to the ropes for dear life as he feels the ship starting to capsize. How big must the storm be, for a vessel of this size to sink.

It’s strange, Kuroko thinks. He only feels lightheadedness instead of fear, as if the world is swimming around him. _If only,_ a little voice at the back of his head sings, sadly, _if only—_

Then the doors bang open, and he sees his captain staring down at him.

“Riko-san?”

It must be a trick of the light, he thinks at first, but strong hands pulling at him tell him otherwise. “Good, you’re alive.”

* * *

“How did you know I was on this ship?”

Riko snorts, but keeps her focus on the floorboards that are starting to tear apart underneath. “Wasn’t hard, with her being the only one flying the magistrate’s colors. Good thing she separated from the rest of the fleet in the—fuck!—storm.”

Kuroko nearly trips over a sliding frame. The voices outside are too embroiled with the wind and rain that he could not hear anything he wants to. “Riko-san, boarding in this weather—“

“Risky and stupid? Yeah, I know,” she smirks, waving to Koganei to come take over. The clash of metal against metal is louder now in his ear, and even then— “But we’re here, aren’t we?”

* * *

There is nothing in his head except the ringing of steel and roar of waves, salt water in his mouth and sweat in his eyes. Somewhere along the way Kagami had gotten himself injured; his right forearm bleeds profusely as he swings his weapon once again, and the rest fall in place.

“—here, over here! Watch out!”

In the pouring rain he can hear Riko yell out orders, and he sees Kiyoshi surrounded Hyuuga and Izuki battling their way into the crowd, and god knows where the rest of them are. Kagami takes a step towards one of the overturned chests to inspect it when a wave crashes abroad, sweeping across the dead and the living both. He tries to grab on to the railing, but it is all too much.

_Is this how I’m going to die?_

The sky he sees is a uniform grey-black, and he remembers—what is it now that he remembers? It all seems so familiar, not the motion of falling but the salt in the air, the swirl of clouds above his head. He opens his mouth, arms flailing, and time seems to stand still.

“—With you! It was with you, wasn’t it?”

As he hits the water, he hears a yell he has not heard in too long.

“Kagami-kun!”

Dull thuds reverberating through the waves tell him that there are other things falling too, and were he to stay sinking—

Kagami fights his way up to the surface, gasping as the ship teeters towards him and back again. He grabs on to a plank, shaking the water out of his eyes, only to be pulled under again. There is pain in his throat, his chest, and—

Something hits the water next to him; he opens his eyes with difficulty, realizing what it is immediately.

* * *

“ _Don’t_!” Riko cries, yanking Kuroko backwards before he could jump in after Kagami. “You’ll just get yourself—Kuroko, you can’t even _swim_!”

“But Kagami-kun—“

“Here!” Koganei yells from behind, throws a bulky thing at the two of them. A floating device—Kuroko had never seen these before, but all of them know the navy keeps a good supply on each boat. “Throw it in the water!“

“Koga, duck!” Hyuuga interjects, as Koganei does exactly what he says and narrowly misses being decapitated. “Listen, tie yourselves down, we don’t know when this’ll be over!“

Kuroko feels something being wound around his body as he heaves the lifesaver in Kagami’s general direction below, his heart seemingly stopped in the moment as Riko pulls him away in the wake of another wave hitting them. The surge of water threw them both back, crashing into more crates, but all the while he does not let go of the rope in his hands.

As the water drains away, he feels other hands over his.

“Come on now,” Kiyoshi says, grinning despite the sharp gash across the left side of his face, “You can’t do this alone, Kuroko.”

They pull and pull, the weight on the other end telling as Mitobe and Koganei rush forward to retrieve Kagami as he finally comes on board once more. Kuroko is the first to drop his ropes, rushing forward despite the stinging of saltwater in his wounds, and he kneels down next to the redhead.

“Kagami-kun, can you hear me? Kagami-kun—”

* * *

_They’d been laughing as Kuroko had sneaked up on the unsuspecting sentry, knocking him over with a piece of wood that had seemed comically too large to carry._

_“That was amazing,” Kagami told him after, “He didn’t see coming you at all.”_

_Kuroko shrugged. “People tend not to notice me.”_

_“Well, good thing Riko recruited you, I guess,” Kagami said. The smile that appeared on Kuroko’s face had stirred something inside him even then. “Hell, I thought you wouldn’t even be able to swim—“_

_“That’s true.”_

_“Are you serious? How are you supposed to survive on a ship then!“_

_“You don’t have to worry about me, Kagami-kun…”_

The way Kuroko had said his name echoes in his head as he groans, pain shooting up and down his body. The events of that day fade from the forefront of his mind as he feels something over his lips, the brine of the sea mixed with another taste that makes him ache for more.

 _I’ll save you if you ever fall overboard_ , he remembers his reply being, once, twice, many times over after that. Thin fingers caress his face, lifting him towards the surface, and he clenches his fists, feeling the bruises and raw skin. There is something else there, too, something small and hard and sharp, but the rising elation in his stomach does not go away. _Heaven_ , he thinks, _perhaps_ …

Kagami coughs, his eyes finally opening, and the first thing he sees is the color of the sky as he had always known it.


End file.
